That look slowed everything down. The snow fluttering down behind them like an animated background, the golden glow of the porch light shining on them, crowning his dark hair with shimmering effect.
The more I stared, the more Isaw. Like his control bled into the space between us, pressing back the fever inch by inch.
Giving me room.
Giving meair.
I didn’t know how he was doing it, but with every second I stayed in that place, grounded by his presence, the fog receded just a little more.
I couldbreathe.
I drew in a shaky breath. “I didn’t want this.”
Jay nodded, solemn. “We know.”
“I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Or… put you in this position.”
“No one’s hurt,” Roan said, quiet but firm. “We’re here because wechoseto come.”
“Because we care,” Rhett added, voice rough and hoarse. “Not because we’re trying to take advantage.”
God, the effort it must have cost him to say that.
My chest caved a little as another wave of something close to grief, but far closer to hope, washed through me.
Roan didn’t take his eyes off me. “But we won’t touch you, Wren. Not unless you ask us. Not unless it’swhat you want. Not heat-driven. Not instinct.”
Just… me.
They would wait forme.
And the brutal honesty of that undid me more than anything else.
Tears welled up again—but this time they didn’t feel sharp. They justwere.
Real.
Because this was real.
They werereal.
For the first time since the heat started, I felt like I wasn’t completely alone.
I kept breathing. In. Out. In again.
Each pull of air scraped my throat raw, but it helped. It gave me something to count, something to hold on to.
They stayed where they were. Still. Steady.
That steadiness helped me push up from where I lay against the floor. Supported me as I took another long drink from the water, draining it. Lifted me when I put a hand on the wall and climbed to my feet. Gave me the strength to string words together.
“Can you…” I swallowed. “Can you handle being inside?”
The question came out half-directed at them, half at myself. CouldIhandle them being inside? The answer pulsed somewhere deep in my chest, hot and aching—no, but alsoGod, yes.
I looked at the doorway, at the edges of their silhouettes blurred by the light snow that had started to drift past them. Tiny flakes clung to Roan’s shoulders, melting as they touched his skin. Jay had a faint dusting of white in his hair, and Rhett… Rhett looked like a furnace barely leashed.
The cold feltgoodon my overheated skin, but they were standing out there in it, and it was stupid. I forced another breath through my nose. “You’ll freeze,” I murmured. “It’s—stupid. I should let you in.”
